Manufacturing Engineer - Electrode Mixing

Job Description

<p>Tesla’s Cell Engineering group is looking for a highly motivated engineer to lead design and development of mixing equipment integral to Tesla’s dry battery process. This individual should be experienced with rotating equipment and ideally mixing equipment. This hire will join a cross-functional engineering team responsible for the development lifecycle and launch to manufacturing of in cell mixing. You will be the key interface to our operations and maintenance teams at all sites globally as a mixing equipment expert.</p>

Job Responsibilities

• This role will invent, develop, scale up and optimize battery manufacturing equipment, focused heavily on anode and cathode mixers. In addition, this individual will help to integrate this equipment into our overall anode and cathode processes
• Thoroughly learn and understand existing processes and equipment to address ongoing technical challenges and identify step-change improvement opportunities, including blank-slate concepts
• Support design, development, and implementation of equipment modifications, improvements, and next generation tools from proof of concept through to full scale production to enable improved battery performance and/or cost
• Validate and characterize performance of newly implemented designs to establish controls for critical parameters and improve process robustness
• Execute DoEs to optimize process conditions
• Lead mixing vendor development projects
• Employ computational modeling (e.g., FEA or CFD) to guide designs and predict outcomes and use data analysis tools to interpret and present validation data
• Work collaboratively with cross functional teams to help fabricate and test quick turnaround prototypes
• Drive equipment commissioning on new production lines
• Perform PFMEA risk assessments to prioritize equipment and process improvement projects 

Job Requirements

• Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Physics, or equivalent experience
• 2+ years of mechanical equipment design required; experience with rotating equipment (motors, bears, seals, etc.) is strongly preferred
• The ideal candidate should be ready to push their limits, as they join a highly motivated and capable team to make unbelievable things become reality
• Preferred advanced-level 3D CAD design experience
• Proven strong understanding of engineering fundamentals and ability to apply them to equipment design and process development for high volume manufacturing
• Proven hands-on experience with prototyping and custom fabrication using CNC, lathe, mill, 3D printing, waterjet, etc.
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
• Ability to perform basic FEA for design validation
• Structured thinking and problem-solving abilities